


Unawakening

by Jugboi



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Archie Comics Reboot (2015), Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Aromantic Asexual Jughead Jones, Aromantic Jughead Jones, Asexual Jughead Jones, Canon Asexual Character, Coming Out, Gen, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26155471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jugboi/pseuds/Jugboi
Summary: How Jughead discovered that he's aroace, and the aftermath
Comments: 2
Kudos: 54





	Unawakening

For all his life Jughead had always felt like he was the odd one out amongst his peers, though he could never pinpoint exactly why.

He would always cringe at the memories of himself in elementary school pretending to have a crush on some random classmate or celebrity because the last thing he wanted at that age was for his friends to question him or think he was weird, especially since he had so few anyways.   
It was nothing but strategic performance, even though he obviously never thought about it that hard at the time

Luckily he gave up on trying to fit in once middle school rolled around and instead he subconsciously made the choice to just do his own thing and not worry about romance shit for the moment.  
The only issue with that was this was also the time where his classmates’ new teenage hormones reared its awkward head, so his feelings of alienation only grew stronger as time marched forward.

It also didn’t help that his friend group all had very obvious crushes on one another, and they would often overlook Jughead in favor of dates and sometimes even just casual hangouts, whether they were aware that they were doing it or not. Many days were spent by himself in a booth at Pop’s Diner with nothing but a strawberry milkshake and his laptop to keep him company as his wandering thoughts did nothing but run rampant.  
In hindsight he wishes he could have called them out on it had he been less unaware of what was going on or why it was happening.

Later on as Jughead’s friendship with Betty grew stronger, so did the persistence of their peers that they must be dating. For the entire ninth grade year, it felt like they would never shut up with different people going to him and Betty about it day after day, and sometimes even going so far as to ask Archie or Veronica too when dissatisfied with their dismissal.  
It annoyed Jughead to no end, as he thought to himself, 'It really shouldn’t be out of the ordinary for a guy and a girl to only be friends, why can’t people just fucking accept that already? I just don’t get what the big deal is!'

By the time they had entered highschool, his classmates’ questions had finally stopped and Jughead started to question himself instead.

The time he spent alone was when his confusion only increased because it felt like any possible answers were just out of reach.

He attempted to collect his thoughts yet couldn’t help but wonder nonstop about why he still felt so different from others, including his close friends.  
'Why is sex stuff so gross to me, why does it seem like everyone except me is concerned about dating, why am I like this?'

He gave up trying to understand himself for the time being and instead took to nonchalantly browsing the internet to unwind for the night.

This eventually led to him falling down a rabbithole of videos made by one of those new media companies that he stumbled across in the past because he enjoyed their numerous videos about food.  
He had seen their videos about the lgbtqa+ community in the sidebar a few times before but was always too nervous to watch them, but this time curiosity overpowered all other emotions.

Eventually he stumbled across a video called Anonymous Confessions of Asexual People. This one more than any of the other videos he previously watched captivated him the most for he had never seen that word used to describe a person before.   
'Oh shit I think I can relate to a lot of these!'

Shortly afterwards, a fair amount of his nights were spent watching this video, as well as their other videos on asexuality, nearly on loop.

It was during this time that all those years of pretending to have crushes on people as a means of attempting to fit in, as well as his frustration with everybody’s insistence on romance and sex being this monolithic thing, had all finally caught up to him.  
'Oh my god it all makes so much sense now!'  
The realization hit him all at once like an epiphany. It felt beyond amazing to finally have his feelings be validated, his questions answered, plus the knowledge that he wasn’t alone after all.

It took Jughead a bit of time to get used to the new labels, but within a couple of weeks he had updated most of his social media bios to include the subtle yet straightforward ace of spades emoji, and the only remaining question on Jughead’s mind was how to tell his friend group.

He already knew that coming out to his friends could potentially be a slow and possibly tedious process but nevertheless he wanted them to know, so he decided to wait until he was ready to tell them all at once, simply because he wanted to avoid having to repeat himself.

Betty was an exception, however, because he felt the most comfortable around her so he saw no point in waiting until whenever they were with the rest of the gang. He offhandedly brought it up one Saturday evening while playing video games at her place and she accepted it without question, much to his immense relief, yet he offhandedly wondered to himself, 'Damn, was it that obvious? I mean I know she probably knows me better than anyone else, but still...'

A few weeks later, the gang was all together at Pop’s Diner casually conversing about school life and their general interests, with the exception of Jughead who was on the verge of zoning out since he was attempting to analyze how to explain his revelation to them. 'Ugh, just fuckin spill it already, it’s not like they aren’t used to me being blunt about things…'

Archie was the first to take notice of the slight yet noticeable nervousness on his face, so he proceeded to crack a joke about how Jughead’s silence was a lot, even for someone who has historically been more of the quiet type.

Suddenly his heart and mind began to race as he took a short sip of his chocolate milkshake to steady his nerves. 'Well, guess there’s no turning back now…'

His coming out was upfront and to the point, and it felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders, especially since all his friends were just as supportive as he had been hoping for.

Archie was unsurprisingly the most vocal about his support, but Jughead didn’t mind in the slightest.

Veronica and Reggie had similar reactions to each other, both nonchalantly smiling though Reggie in particular looked like he was trying to avoid saying anything unintentionally stupid or invalidating.

Kevin was overjoyed because this meant that he finally wasn’t the only lgbtqa+ kid he knew at their school anymore.

They all spent the rest of their time at the diner chatting about various lgbtqa+ topics in addition to laughing over their shared past.  
It genuinely felt like Jughead coming out brought everyone closer together.

Highschool instantly became a hell of a lot easier to get through now that Jughead was completely comfortable with his orientation.

Technically he was only out to his friend group but he did buy two pins to place onto his beanie, one of the asexual flag colours and the other the aromantic flag colours. He figured the pins could be a great way to do the talking for him, since he didn’t really care for coming out to the entire school but also hated the idea of anyone assuming he’s straight.

After all this time he still preferred to do his own thing, only now with more self-assurance than he ever had before.

In the back of his mind he knows he doesn’t need anyone’s approval or respect, all he knows for sure is he is the happiest he’s been in years now that he finally has the words to effectively describe how he feels.

Basically now more than ever does Jughead know that he only desires three things: consuming delicious burgers, more chill lofi bops for his playlist, and hanging out with his friends as much as humanly possible.

**Author's Note:**

> This was really fun to write because I based a fair amount of it on my own experiences from my childhood and teen years, and (comic) Jughead has been a comfort character of mine ever since I first found out he’s openly aroace in the 2015 comics (mostly cus i cling to the few bits of rep i have tbh lmao)


End file.
